While X-Men ’97 Season 2 started off with a prome, they didn’t quite stick the landing. With a finale that’s perhaps too grand for its own good, the entire season in retrospect seems messy and rushed.
The X-Men finally face off against an unconventional Apocalypse. Rogue, Beast, and Nightcrawler return to Apocalypse’s Ship in an attempt to save Gambit while Cable seeks to kill him to stop Apocalypse from taking form again. The X-Men v. X-Factor clash is by far the most interesting part of the episode, featuring Polaris and Bishop and briefly showcasing Siryn, Strong Guy, and Multiple Man from X-Factor. Cyclops, Jean Grey, and the rest of the main crew do not get much attention outside of the X-Corp battle in the beginning of the episode, but they still pull their weight in the fight.
The animation was on par with the rest of the season, but the character design really suffered at the end. To put it plainly, the battle against Apocalypse looked goofy. What was once a menacing villain fell victim to over-design, with the animation of his powers looking like a mesh of colors and not like a purposeful depiction of the power he exudes.
There was also an appearance by Eson the Celestial (Matthew Waterson), who sounded even less menacing than Apocalypse. There were very little voice effects put on for this all-knowing being, making the scene feel flat and empty instead of eerie or otherworldly in the presence of this cosmic being.
Besides the unsatisfying visuals, the end falls short of greatness because of its lack of focus and build-up. It’s no secret this show would’ve benefited from a longer season to avoid this rushed feeling. While Rogue and Gambit’s story has been carried over from last season, it doesn’t have the same weight to it because we’ve barely seen Rogue actually deal with her grief amidst all the other events.
In retrospect, this season should not have been entirely Apocalypse-focused. The best episodes were singular stories that focused on characters and their beliefs and backstories. Polaris and Nightcrawler were given some of the most interesting episodes only to be barely central to the finale. The beginning of the season seemed to balance each team very well, but it seems that balance was hard to maintain over the next few episodes with all they tried to squeeze in.
The good news is the promise the end credit scene holds. A quite famous (or infamous, depending on who you ask) X-Man villain makes an appearance and sets up a classic storyline for the X-Men. Even though Apocalypse is also a classic X-Man villain, this next season will have much lower stakes than Season 2 and will hopefully return X-Men to their melodramatic status quo without the larger-than-life foe to face off against. Perhaps this smaller challenge in Season 3 will allow for more of that character-focused storytelling that the X-Men thrive on.
